U.S. leaders should respond to homeland affairs such as urban violence, poverty, education reform, addiction, gun laws, immigration reform, and a litany of other issues that challenge American societal stability.

The United States can never turn away from the world but our most important goal must be a cultivation of resolutions that require no military action.

That’s not naivete. Peace remains an ultimate exercise even as skirmishes, battles, and wars erupt halfway around the world.

Homeland security starts at home.

L.A. Parker is a Trentonian columnist. Reach him at laparker@trentonian.com. Twitter@laparker6.